Hulu’s political thriller “Paradise” finally showed the apocalyptic event it’s been teasing all season — and many viewers are calling it the best episode of television they’ve seen in years.
Warning: Spoilers ahead for season 1 of “Paradise.”
During the “Paradise” premiere, viewers learned about a top secret government project to build a city under a Colorado mountain in preparation for an extinction-level event.
President Cal Bradford’s (James Marsden) lead Secret Service agent, Xavier Collins (Sterling K. Brown), was briefed on the plan and promised safety for himself, his wife Teri (Enuka Okuma), daughter Presley (Aliyah Mastin), and son James (Percy Daggs IV).
The “worldwide disaster” that incited the city-sized bunker plan played out during episode 7 of “Paradise,” which premiered on Tuesday, Feb. 25. Aptly titled “The Day,” the episode consisted primarily of one extended flashback documenting the fateful event.
READ MORE: Will there be a ‘Paradise’ season 2?
A chilling news report explains that a supervolcano erupted under the Antarctic ice sheet, “expelling millions of tons of ash into the atmosphere” and “instantly melting trillions of gallons of water.” That triggered a massive 300-ft tsunami traveling at about 600 miles per hour.
The episode shows some terrifying glimpses of the destruction — a massive wave looming over an entire city and a news reporter’s nose starting to bleed after a “high-pressure sound wave” hits the area — but a lot is left up to the imagination, which heightens the feeling of panic.
At one point, a scientist answers a news anchor’s question about when the tsunami will subside.
“When it’s done. For all I know, to the North Pole and echoing back to Antarctica and maybe a dozen more times. Anything under 300 feet above sea level will be inundated. You’re not thinking about this correctly. It’s not a wave,” he says. “So, when it’s done. That’s when it’ll end.”
With a global catastrophe looming, the strongest moments of the episode are the personal consequences. Most notably, Xavier desperately trying to get his wife to safety even though she is stuck in Atlanta with bad cell service and White House staffer Marsha (Amy Pietz) pleading for more information to save her young son.
James Marsden and Sterling K. Brown in "Paradise" episode 7, "The Day."Disney
Marsha has now become a prime suspect for Cal’s murder (the president dies during episode 1), as she has a strong motive. After working with Cal since the beginning of his political career, Marsha learns during episode 7 that she has been left out of the evacuation plan. Standing on the White House lawn amid a frenzy of frantic people, she stares up at a helicopter carrying the president away to safety.
From the high personal stakes to the threat of a nuclear holocaust to the fairly realistic apocalypse scenario — “Paradise” creator Dan Fogelman told USA Today that “a tremendous amount of research” went into the episode — episode 7 was a nail-biter from start to finish. You couldn’t look away.
In a Reddit thread discussing the episode, one viewer dubbed “The Day” the most exciting hour of television since Game of Thrones’ shocking “Rains of Castamere” episode, which featured the deadly Red Wedding.
“I can’t remember the last time I felt so invested in what I was watching,” another fan wrote of the “truly insane” episode.
Viewers also took to X to praise “The Day”, with one fan calling it “one of the most gripping individual episodes of TV I’ve seen in a very long time” and another saying “Sterling K. Brown and James Marsden need all the awards” for their performances.
There have been plenty of films and TV shows made about end-of-the-world scenarios, but episode 7 of “Paradise” managed to feel fresh and frighteningly real. Brown told Today.com that Paradise’s biggest mystery — who killed Cal — will be solved during the season 1 finale, but it’s going to be hard to beat episode 7.
The “Paradise” season 1 finale hits Hulu on Tuesday, March 4. The first seven episodes are available to stream on Hulu now.
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